On November 18, the Department of Education (ED) announced six new interagency agreements (IAAs) between ED and the Departments of Labor (DOL), Interior (DOI), Health and Human Services (HHS), and State. A press release from ED states that the IAAs aim “to break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, activities, and move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states.”
Background
On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order directing the secretary of education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” Despite the order’s intention to close ED, Congress would need to pass legislation to officially dissolve the department. Many speculated that the Trump administration would seek to move ED’s subagencies and their functions to other federal agencies.
Interagency Agreements
The six IAAs announced by ED include:
- An Elementary and Secondary Education Partnership between ED and DOL (fact sheet);
- A Postsecondary Education Partnership between ED and DOL (fact sheet);
- An Indian Education Partnership between ED and DOI (fact sheet);
- A Foreign Medical Accreditation Partnership between ED and HHS (fact sheet);
- A Child Care Access Means Parents in School Partnership between ED and HHS (fact sheet); and
- An International Education and Foreign Language Studies Partnership between ED and State (fact sheet).
The first three IAAs listed above point to President Trump’s March executive order to justify the partnership.
According to the press release, the Postsecondary Education Partnership will allow DOL to “take on a greater role in administering most postsecondary education grant programs authorized under the Higher Education Act.” With ED’s oversight, DOL will “manage grant funds, provide technical assistance, and integrate ED’s postsecondary education programs into the suite of programs DOL already administers.” According to the fact sheet, ED will “maintain all statutory responsibilities and will continue its oversight of these programs.”
The fact sheets state that grantees for programs falling under these partnerships “should not experience programmatic disruptions due to the partnership” and that they should remain in contact with their ED and partner agency programmatic staff. ED and partner agency staff will provide further announcements on process-related transitions. CUPA-HR will continue to monitor for updates related to these IAAs.